Janet Kobren talking at a fundraiser for the 2010 Gaza freedom flotilla. Ms Kobren participated in the Flotilla and organized the fundraiser
Prepared by Janet Kobren, PNB Listener Director from KPFA*
I am one of nine Pacifica Directors for Good Governance (PDGG). Since being seated on the PNB on January 30, 2014, I and my fellow PDGG colleagues have witnessed a majority of 12 of the 22- member board put the Foundation at financial risk by violating meeting notice requirements and recklessly rushing through major personnel decisions, in the dark of executive sessions where the majority has manipulated the meeting process, misemployed Roberts Rules of Order including showing favoritism.
They have acted without official process or documentation, and disallowed discussion or independent legal consultation on very sensitive motions (except outside the meetings, and perhaps by majority and obviously biased directors that happen to be lawyers), all of which may take the Foundation down by opening it up to possible major lawsuits, jeopardizing our insurance coverage, and losing our CPB funding and the re-licensing of WBAI.
Informed by our fiduciary responsibility, the PDGG voiced objections during all PNB meetings and proposed alternatives by submitting motion after motion, all in vain, as they were either voted down or not included in or disappeared from the agendas. Accordingly, the PDGG felt we had no other recourse but to go to the courts.
We filed a lawsuit on April 3rd at the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, case number HG14720131. And although, for technical reasons, the judge denied us a temporary restraining order (TRO) on April 9, she nevertheless scheduled an expedited preliminary injunction hearing in Oakland on May 6.
PDGG fears that there may be no Pacifica network by the end of year and believes that outside intervention is the only way that Pacifica can be saved.
*Presented during the “Pacifica National Board Report” agenda item of the April 12, 2014 KPFA Local Station Board (LSB) meeting.